Let me explain this to you instead of arguing in one line sentences like yourself my friend.
What your saying is like saying how big a car is, is more important to its movement then it having spinning wheels. Like wax the wheel was the incredible invention that kept momentum and gained speed down hill. How is a vehicle suppose to break friction and gain speed at any size without spinning rubber tires are the equivalent to your wax on your board. This is the only thing for the board that's touching snow to start breaking friction and carry speed. Whether you push a large or a small object down hill they will both have the ability to move very fast with spinning tires on axel on ground or surface wax on snow. Large or small a snowboard with a sweet wax job will fly. Take the Wax off a board or remove tires from a vehicle, no matter what the size it is, it will barely move.
This is why Snowboarder's and Skier's have what are called wax techs not board size techs. Although I'm in no way saying surface area and size donesn't matter, I'm just saying nothing's moving with much speed on snow with out something to help break friction touching the the snow.

Except you are wrong. Maybe try this. Ride a 150 and a 160 of the same board and straigtline it. Which one do you think will be faster? Even the 160 without wax will likely be faster than the 150 with wax. The gains from waxing in most conditions are marginal.

As to which boards have the fastest bases? IME Bataleon TBT bases are the fastest. Not because of material but because of the camber+TBT. Almost no drag in the snow=straightline rocket.

Shops are in the business to create revenue. A good way to create revenue is to sell goods and services to people even if they don't need them. This is especially true if you need to pay for specialty equipment like base grinders and sturcturing tools.

This is a naive response.

The guys at Vancouver Ski and Board services sell what you need, not what they can get away with.

I've had structuring done there and the result was a definite improvement.

No doubt these services got oversold but real shops won't scam you. I've had other shops in Ontario tell me no need to sharpen, we'll just wax it, save you some money. I return to those shops because I trust them.

...As to which boards have the fastest bases? IME Bataleon TBT bases are the fastest. Not because of material but because of the camber+TBT. Almost no drag in the snow=straightline rocket.

I can attest to this.
Although I've only ridden a handful of boards, when I took my Lobster Jib Board out for the first time (also TBT) I couldn't believe the speed. Could be a coincidence, but it was a huge difference!

Except you are wrong. Maybe try this. Ride a 150 and a 160 of the same board and straigtline it. Which one do you think will be faster? Even the 160 without wax will likely be faster than the 150 with wax. The gains from waxing in most conditions are marginal.

As to which boards have the fastest bases? IME Bataleon TBT bases are the fastest. Not because of material but because of the camber+TBT. Almost no drag in the snow=straightline rocket.

First your so wrong man...some conditions a snowboard wont even move without wax...Dude your so uneducated on snowboarding, have you ever heard of or rode an Oxess, Kesser, donek, Prior or SG..these are the fastest, haha
You just showed your grasp of snowboarding knowledge saying Bataleon's are the fastest...You must be joking...I hope you understand they make these things called race/BX boards.

Except you are wrong. Maybe try this. Ride a 150 and a 160 of the same board and straigtline it. Which one do you think will be faster? Even the 160 without wax will likely be faster than the 150 with wax. The gains from waxing in most conditions are marginal.

As to which boards have the fastest bases? IME Bataleon TBT bases are the fastest. Not because of material but because of the camber+TBT. Almost no drag in the snow=straightline rocket.

You grab your Bataleon I will grab my Tiny ass Oxess and lets see who wins...for you to say Bataleons are fastest...hmm why do no BX's use them, I only see SG, Donek, Oxess and last but not least Kessler. As far as the more commercial boards go, I bet you anything a Custom X will smoke a Bataleon. Bataleon has patened side ways rocker that's not gonna speed you up.

You grab your Bataleon I will grab my Tiny ass Oxess and lets see who wins...for you to say Bataleons are fastest...hmm why do no BX's use them, I only see SG, Donek, Oxess and last but not least Kessler. As far as the more commercial boards go, I bet you anything a Custom X will smoke a Bataleon. Bataleon has patened side ways rocker that's not gonna speed you up.

As soon as you loser's enter a race or pony up money for racing knowing the only way your gonna see a return on investment is winning. Then come talk to me. I can tell very clearly by your guys posts that you wouldn't know the first thing about wax and racing. Until you do, stop talking like you know anything about having the fastest board.

--Opinions were once statements to open discussion. Now opinions are proclamations that turn into nothing. Opinions were once seldom and used for production. Now everyone has an opinion, but what happens, is nothing.

Except you are wrong. Maybe try this. Ride a 150 and a 160 of the same board and straigtline it. Which one do you think will be faster? Even the 160 without wax will likely be faster than the 150 with wax. The gains from waxing in most conditions are marginal.

As to which boards have the fastest bases? IME Bataleon TBT bases are the fastest. Not because of material but because of the camber+TBT. Almost no drag in the snow=straightline rocket.

Not really...

Waxing is a freaking science and racers do it for a reason. The difference between each type of wax might be marginal, but waxing overall IS NOT marginal.

Are you saying that your unwaxed sintered base is only going to be marginally slower than when waxed?

I have not tried TBT yet... closest I've tried to that is the Combo Platter from Forum. I do agree with you that base shape makes a big difference though. Wax does too.